According to a recent 1.pdf"> report from the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy, total giving from all sources in the U.S. rose from $124.31 billion in 1993 to just over $360 billion last year (2022). However, the report cites that the total giving figure has continued to track closely with the size of the U.S. economy, where the overall "giving " figure remained at roughly 2% of the national GDP over those 20 years.

What the report does show as a major shift is a change from total giving coming from individuals versus foundations, the giving coming from foundations rising significantly, from less than 7% in 1992 to nearly 19% of all giving today.

As more and more news publishers seek innovative sustainable new revenue models to offset the cost of their newsrooms, more and more money is becoming available to support local journalism through philanthropic entities. In this episode of E&P Reports, we explore "The Chronicle of Philanthropy" (CoP), a monthly magazine that covers the nonprofit world and is read by charity leaders, foundation executives, fundraisers, and others involved in philanthropy. The publication was founded in 1988 by Phil Semas and Stacy Palmer, who today is the editor. In May of 2022, CoP announced plans to spin off and become an independent, nonprofit organization that achieved its 501(c)(3) status in February of 2023  upon approval by the IRS.

In this one-on-one with CoP editor Stacy Palmer, we explore why the philanthropic world is becoming more interested in supporting local journalism and how we in the news media industry may be able to use our resources to help educate those in charge of giving. Palmer says:  ” (it’s) fascinating right now is to watch how much interest there is in the foundation world and among big donors about funding local journalism. Grant givers are very, very concerned about the fact that democracy is falling apart because we don't have strong journalism. So, we are covering that and watching that a lot.”

Palmer stated, " I think philanthropy is distressed by the fact that there just aren't resources for local journalism. So, they know that quality journalism isn't happening. For example, when people aren't going and covering the school boards, that is not a good thing. That means people aren't voting in a way that makes sense because they don't have any information. That's what motivates foundations to say, "I want to make sure there is somebody who can go and cover those kinds of things."

In this 184^th episode of “E&P Reports,” we explore the world of philanthropy through the eyes of those who are in charge of where the money goes with The Chronicle of Philanthropy's editor Stacy Palmer who offers insights into the whys and hows big donors are motivated to support local journalism.

Imagine you are managing a downsized, metro, state capital newsroom. Within four weeks, your newsroom covers once-in-a-generation tornado devastation, a school shooting that takes the lives of six individuals, a legislature that expels two minority members erupting into a globally watched real-time protest, the crash of two Black Hawk helicopters that took nine lives at nearby Fort Campbell and the passage of several local and statewide anti-LBGTQ bills, one that bans the performance of drag shows. Additionally, you are assigning reporters, shooters, and editors while operating on a hybrid schedule where not all in your newsroom work within a single location. Finally, add to that the fact that your newsroom not only has to feed multi-platform, real-time content to your statewide audience, but you are also under a mandate to act as the regional hub for a national network with all their readers turning their attention to the community you report on.

Well, you don’t have to imagine what that single month of journalism would be like because that was the real-life scenario that the Tennessean Editor Michael Anastasi and his management team continue to experience in Nashville, TN.

In this 183^rd episode of E&P reports, we speak with the newsroom management team of the Tennessean in Nashville, Tennessean and explore four weeks of their hectic world reporting on deadly tornadoes, a school shooting that took the lives of six people (including three children), the state legislature expelling two minority representatives and the subsequent protests, the crash of two Black Hawk helicopters along with having to report on various anti LBTGQ bill passages. We'll ask how they covered these stories in a downsized, hybrid newsroom environment while simultaneously feeding the USA Today Network. Appearing are Editor Michael Anastasi, News Director Ben Goad, Breaking News Editor Gary Estwick, Content Strategist and City Editor Liz Shoebauer, Politics and Investigation Editor Duane Gang, along with Director of Multimedia Projects Ayrik Whitney and Visuals Director Jeremy Harmon.

On April 5, 2019, Alec Johnson, the editor & publisher of The Waterville Times, the flagship publication of the Johnson Newspaper Corporation, of which he is also president, penned an editorial entitled “67e5-5847-9b84-f9aeef690204.html">Readers think newspapers are doing fine: here’s the truth.”  Within the article, one can almost feel his frustrations, citing a Pew Research survey that stated 71% of Americans believed that local news media organizations were doing well financially, while just 14 percent said they have directly paid for "local news services.” Perhaps that article was intended as a “warning shot” to the readers within the communities his newspapers served; like many publishers, Johnson Newspapers could not continue financing his newsrooms at the same pace in a culture of declining circulation and advertising revenues.

In less than 60 days, on June 14, 2019, Johnson announced they were shutting down the only four newspapers that served the 100,000+ residents of St. Lawrence County, New York, which included the 100+-year-old Canton (NY) St. Lawrence Plain Dealer serving the county seat and the 160+-year-old Ogdensburg (NY) Journal, that served the largest city within St. Lawrence County.

For almost two years, these communities experienced what it was like to work, live and play within what we have labeled in our industry a "news desert," defined by Wikipedia as:

"a community that is no longer covered by a daily or nondaily newspaper." According to the June 2022 Northwestern University/ Medill study entitled "The State of Local News,"  more than one-fifth of Americans now live in an area with limited access to local news. Another study from the Center for Information, Technology and Public Life (CITAP) revealed, "The information vacuum left when communities lose dedicated news coverage can have wide-ranging effects." The study stated, "Without a source for local news, community members get most of their news from social media, leaving them vulnerable to mis- and disinformation and exacerbating political polarization.”

This special "E&P Reports," is part of the new initiative we call "The Local News Media Road Show,” produced in partnership with the Rebuild Local News Coalition, where we explore the local communities that have experienced the loss of local news coverage, and how the disappearance of local, authoritative, independent journalism has affected the residents, businesses and overall culture of the citizens who've lost their "voice." In this episode, we travel to St. Lawrence County, NY, where in June of 2019, the community lost all four local newspapers, causing businesses and citizens to rally together to help bring them back just two years later. Appearing in the broadcast are St. Lawrence County District 1 Legislator, Republican James Reagen andOgdensburg (NY) Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Laura Pearson. Also participating are the editors of the now revived Ogdensburg (NY) Journal and Canton (NY) St. Lawrence Plain Dealer.

There’s no question that Evening Post Publishing, owners of the Charleston Post and Courier (P&C), have been expanding their commitment to local journalism, while other media companies publishing in South Carolina have been downsizing their newsrooms. E&P initially reported in July of 2020 that the P&C had opened news operations in Greenville, where Gannett owned the legacy title, and in Myrtle Beach, a  McClatchy market.

And again, in June of 2022, E&P published a feature story on how even though 10 South Carolina newspapers had already shut down during a global pandemic, the Post & Courier had launched their "Uncovered" project, adding and assigning journalists to different state regions to cover.

But recently, as Executive Editor Autumn Phillips stated, "The Post and Courier has gone all-in by strategically expanding from a core market publication to a statewide newsroom. In each new community, we’ve incubated different models to identify the combination of funding and beat approaches that would lead to a long-term sustainable business and address growing news deserts in South Carolina.”

An example of this expansion is now in Florence, where Lee Enterprises owns the local newspaper. Here the P&C partnered with Francis Marion University to create a learning newsroom funded by donors and digital subscriptions. With these monies, the market is being served by an editor, a publisher, three reporters and six interns.

In total, The Post and Courier has added 27 new reporters working in Columbia, Rock Hill, and Hilton Head (McClatchy markets) and across three other newsrooms as part of this statewide expansion. Phillips stated: "These investments were made with the belief that in-depth reporting in markets hungry for local news will grow digital subscriptions to a level by 2025 that will fully fund the statewide news organization.”

In this 181^st episode of E&P Reports, we “look under the hood” at the Charleston Post and Courier's tailor-made, market-by-market, statewide expansion and why, while others are downsizing, they are finding innovative ways to provide quality local journalism throughout South Carolina. Appearing on this broadcast are P&C Executive Editor Autumn Phillips and Chief Opportunity & Marketing Officer Chris Zoeller, along with PJ Browning, president newspaper division at Evening Post Publishing.

On its website, the local.org/">Journalism Funding Partners (JFP) states a mission to “Increase the depth, diversity and sustainability of local journalism by building and stewarding connections between funders and news organizations.” Founded as a 501 (C)(3) in 2019 by the former publisher of the Raleigh News & Observer, Orage Quarles and internationally recognized reporter and senior consultant for the Democracy Fund, Sheila Solomon. JFP has secured and managed more than $5 million in grants to help support new and existing journalism coverage.

One of the funding projects that the JFP coordinated allowed for the Nashville Tennessean to create its first beat solely dedicated to covering local First Amendment issues. Thanks to these funds, Angele Latham has been winning national attention with her local reporting on the Sumner County (TN) governing board’s passage of an amendment declaring that the county would uphold “Judeo-Christian values.” Latham also was responsible for recent, in-depth coverage of current Tennessee laws passed that restrict “drag show” performances within the state.

Funds managed by JFP also helped create a new beat at the Raleigh News and Observer, centering on climate change and the environment, covered by reporter Adam Wagner. Wagner’s recent investigative series centering on “Big Poultry” exposed how the more than 4,600 state poultry farms that raise more than 1 billion chickens and turkeys each year impact more than 230,000 North Carolina residents to un-checked odor and manure, which has proven to cause illness and reduce property values. Recently Wagner and his Editor Bill Church won the 2023 Victor K. McElheny Award for local and regional science journalism from this series.

In this 180^th episode of “E&P Reports," we speak with two reporters covering beats that exist today, thanks to the funding managed by Journalism Funding Partners (JFP). Appearing are the Nashville Tennessean’s first reporter to be focused solely on First Amendment issues, Angele Latham and the Raleigh News and Observer's new climate change and environment reporter Adam Wagner. Explaining how JFP was able to help create these and other new local journalism initiatives is executive director Rusty Coats.

On February 21, 2023, six news publishing companies: The Baltimore Banner, Block Club Chicago, The Colorado Sun, the Daily Memphian, Long Beach Post and Lookout Local/Lookout Santa Cruz, announced they were forming an organization they collectively called the Alliance for Sustainable Local News (ASLN).

Their industry press release stated these six publishers all shared a “belief in the power of local news to make communities and people’s lives better.” These six have also “found common ground in the successful building of new high-quality, trustworthy, non-partisan news organizations, large enough to serve their communities’ primary news needs.” And “share fundamental values in the greater movement to revive, reinvent and renew the kind of local news journalism communities all across North America deserve.”

Over the last two decades, ASLN founding member, author and industry analyst Ken Doctor has been known not to “pull punches” regarding his opinions about how hedge funds and large corporations have been hurting the industry. When announcing the formation of the ASLN, Doctor stated, “It’s no longer a question of searching for models that might replace dailies whose owners have disinvested. Our members are doing that — and becoming the primary, go-to news sources for their communities.”

However, even though the new ASLN members claim they share “key in-common characteristics,” such as being mission-driven and business-driven in “believing sustainable local news of scale must establish itself largely on earned revenue,” there are several dissimilarities within this group of six. For example, three operate as non-profits, and one recently purchased a community, print-based newspaper group. Finally, one functions as a public-benefit corporation.

As far as the actual company leaders who started the ASLN, three come from a background of senior-level leadership in legacy media companies. Two come from legacy media senior editorial posts. And one came to the news publishing industry from a human resources and municipality public relations career.

However, even though each of these news publishing platforms and their leaders have different origins, these six have developed a strong bond, believing that they may have found a collective way to blend their ideas into a news publishing business sustainability “secret sauce.”

In this 179th episode of “E&P Reports,” we chat with five of the six news publishers who have banded together to form the Alliance for Sustainable Local News. This diverse group believes they collectively care about building a genuine, sustainable local news publishing business model. Speaking with host and E&P publisher Mike Blinder are Imtiaz Patel, CEO of the Baltimore Banner; Larry Ryckman, editor and president of The Colorado Sun; Eric Barnes, CEO of the Daily Memphian; David Sommers, CEO and publisher of the Long Beach Post and Ken Doctor, CEO of Lookout Local/Lookout Santa Cruz.

On February 8, 2023, the citizens of Pulaski, TN were shocked to hear that their 167-year-old newspaper was to be shut down. Then owner David Lake, along with publisher Scott Stewart announced in a statement that: “Declining advertising and subscription revenues combined with increasing costs, finally reached a point where maintaining the Pulaski (Tennessee) Citizen as a business has not been possible, and that county will have no newspaper or news platform dedicated solely to covering local news, sports, events, government and people.”

Pulaski is a city in the county seat of Giles County, located on the central-southern border of Tennessee, where Wikipedia shows a 2020 population recorded as 8,397. The city lies halfway between Nashville, TN and Huntsville, AL, on the I-65 corridor.

The paper’s publisher Scott Stewart, who was born in Pulaski and began as a reporter at the paper in 1995 stated in the closing announcement: “As devastating as this is for those of us who cherish what local news is and means to our community, so many people will never realize what they’ve lost until it’s gone. That may be the saddest part of the whole thing. Personally, I offer my apologies to everyone who does care that the PULASKI CITIZEN is going away. It went down on my watch, and I accept responsibility for my part in its demise."

But, as negative and sad as Stewart's words were, he possibly was unaware of how much the county's citizens actually supported the Citizen. Recently elected Pulaski Mayor J.J. Brindley stated in this interview with E&P that his family "always supported the newspaper" and (that he) relied on the Citizen to ensure pertinent information about the town could be placed. He went on to say: “I believed in the newspaper with everything I have.” And that he and other Pulaski residents were "scared" when the news about the closing was published. However, Mayor Brindley continued, "This almost HAD TO HAPPEN for people to see how valuable this paper is and how much they did to serve this community!”

However, within that same week the Citizen was publishing its last issue, word about the closing came to Dave Gould, the owner of Main Street Media, a company he founded in 2013 that publishes 12 local weekly newspapers in 10 Nashville-area counties. Once he got word via a Facebook post shared by one of his reporters, he quickly contacted then-owner David Lake. In a matter of hours, he negotiated a purchase and saved the publication from extinction.

Gould stated, "There was a passion for this newspaper within the community. There was a lot of angst and worry about it closing. So, we felt good about the purchase and have seen overwhelming support from the people of Pulaski.”

In this 178^th episode of "E&P Reports," we explore a single week in the life of the 167-year-old Pulaski (TN) Citizen — a newspaper announced its closing, the citizen's reactions to the pending loss of their newspaper of record, and the last-minute saving of the publication as a new owner swooped in to purchase it. Chatting with the host and publisher of E&P Magazine, Mike Blinder, were recently-elected Pulaski Mayor J.J. Brindley, Citizen Publisher and Pulaski life-long resident Scott Stewart, and the new owner of the paper, Main Street Media's CEO and Founder Dave Gould.

For two decades, Dr. Richard Haass has been the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan think tank organization that states this mission on its website: “To help people better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.”

Also, his expertise in international affairs and U.S. foreign policy has been tapped by our government, acting as the chair for the multiparty negotiations in Northern Ireland in 2012. From 2001 to 2003, Haass was the director of policy planning for the Department of State, acting as a principal advisor to Colin Powell during the war in Iraq.

However, most of us know Richard Haass from his many appearances on national newscasts and as a consultant to NBC News — providing context to stories centering on international relations and our foreign policy. And within these decades of work, he has managed to find time to author over a dozen books that center on helping us understand the complexities of our place in the world. These include the New York Times bestsellers: "The World: A Brief Introduction” (2020), “A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order” (2017) and “War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars” (2010).

However, this year, Richard Haass took a different turn in his writing, authoring his latest book: "The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens” (2023), a bestseller that centers on his years of experience looking at the world and shifting that focus in taking a hard look at ourselves — the people of the United States — to help us define the meaning of our citizenship and what our obligations are to help maintain our democracy. Within the book, Dr. Haass argues, "We get the government and the country we deserve. Getting the one we need, however, is up to us.”

Within the book, Haass lists 10 “obligations” we have as citizens that include the need for us to remain civil, value norms, stay open to compromise, put our country first, get involved, promote the common good and others. However, the 1^st of these obligations is “Be Informed,” stating, "An informed citizen is someone who puts himself or herself in a position to weigh what others say or write and contribute their own perspectives. Ideally, this individual would also know something of the country’s history and how it came to be what it is today, as it is impossible to understand the present without an appreciation of the past." Dr. Haass continues, "It is essential to differentiate among facts, misstatements, opinions, predictions and recommendations. Facts are assertions that can be demonstrated to be so, measured, and proved.”

In this 177^th episode of "E&P Reports," we go one-on-one with Dr. Richard Haass, the president of the Council of Foreign Relations and author of the current New York Times bestseller: “The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens,” where he looks at the things, we as Americans should do to maintain a healthy democracy. In this episode, E&P Publisher Mike

Ryan Dohrn is a motivational speaker, won an Emmy for sales & marketing, has been recognized by Forbes.com with the “Best of the Web” award for his business strategies and is considered one of the top media sales trainers in the world today.

Since 2008, Dohrn’s Brain Swell Media consulting company has helped over 200 media companies find new revenue through innovative sales strategies and his unique ad sales training.

Today, Dohrn is also the owner and CEO of Niche Media, an organization that claims its "ethos" is centered around creating events that bring together like-minded media pros to help drive revenue through niche publishing. Hundreds gather at the yearly Niche Media Conference to attend programs focusing on revenue generation, sales training, audience growth, and emerging media trends.

In this 176^th episode of "E&P Reports," we go one-on-one with multimedia sales guru Ryan Dohrn to gain new ideas he shares on how news publishers can grow top-line revenue in the ever-increasing turbulence in a post-covid market. He offers innovative insights into how any media sales rep can build essential relationships with new advertisers in a very competitive media ecosystem. Dohrn also provides a sneak peek into what will be presented at the April 2023 Niche Media Conference in New Orleans and why any media company today should be "all in" on creating niche media products.

The Medford, Oregon Mail Tribune can trace its roots back to 1909 when the morning Medford Mail and afternoon Tribune merged under the Putnam family, creating what the paper claimed to be "The largest printing and publishing establishment in Southern Oregon.”

It was decades later that this venerable brand would begin a journey of "swap and sale," moving from Down jones/ Ottaway ownership to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., to Newcastle Investment Corp. (an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group) and later merging into the growing Gatehouse Media Group.

Gatehouse sold the Mail Tribune in 2017 to media businessman Steven Saslow and its sister paper, the Ashland Daily Tidings, for $15 million. Saslow then reportedly secured financing from the right-wing-centered Sinclair broadcast group that same week, according to public records obtained by Jefferson Public Radio. Shortly after the purchase, the paper began working under the ownership name of Rosebud Media in conjunction with the Sinclair-owned TV station in Medford, KTVL. In a very short time, many of the newspaper's newsroom employees were let go, replacing most of the website content with video programming. In 2018, Mail Tribune online viewers were 1^st greeted with a “Rosebud Update” video, which included national and local headlines from a studio in Florida and a right-wing oriented video op-ed section entitled Rosewood Commentary.

In August 2021, the Mail Tribune went from printing the newspaper seven days a week to four days per week. Then, on September 30^, 2023, Saslow announced that the Mail Tribune would cease publication of a printed edition, stating that "printing and delivery costs for the newspaper were threatening the business.”  And finally, on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, Saslow made the unexpected announcement that he was shutting down the online operations altogether and letting the entire team go — thus ending the over 100 years of publishing.

While the industry was grappling with the idea of Oregon’s fourth largest MDA with a population of over 200,000, losing its newspaper of record, news soon broke that EO Media Group, a fourth-generation family-owned company based in Oregon that publishes 18 titles, was going to launch a new newspaper to serve the Medford area, The Rouge Valley Tribune, with 8f2f-5bdb-a593-b98b9b8582ef.html#tncms-source=eEdition"> a debut print edition “hitting the streets” today, February 18, 2023.

EO Media Group stated that they will place an editorial staff of 14 in the newsroom. The editorial team will work for long-time Mail Tribune journalist and former editor David Smigelski, who EO Media COO Heidi Wright recently hired. Smigelski reminisced about his 16-plus years at Mail Tribune in his a405-11ed-8944-732e92eef928.html"> first editorial for the new Rouge Valley Tribune, stating, "We became pawns in a multinational media chess game." He then said, "The Mail Tribune was abruptly closed on January 13, with just two days' notice to employees. Ten days later, I was standing inside the JC Penney building in Medford with Bulletin publisher Heidi Wright, figuring out where to put desks and phones. As we planned, she used words I could understand. “We know newspapers aren’t a cash cow, but we’re not here to get rich,” she said. “We want to do this because it’s important.” I wanted to hug her, but I thought it might be unprofessional. Crying was probably poor form, as well, but I couldn’t stop a little mist from building up. After 16 years, I feel like I'm back home. With newspaper people — family people.”

In this 175^th episode of "E&P Reports," we explore how EO Media Group is replacing the now shut-down Medford, Oregon Mail Tribune with its new start-up publication: "The Rouge Valley Tribune." We speak with EO Media Group's COO Heidi Wright and EO Media Group Board Member and Director of Audience Development Susan Forester Rana about why and how the company is committing to launch a new print publication during such tumultuous times. Also joining in the dialogue is David Smigelski, former editor of the Mail Tribune, now in his first week of print publishing as editor of the new The Rouge Valley Tribune.